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Fort Smith Back In Running For State Veterans Home

Fort Smith Back In Running For State Veterans Home

TIMES RECORD FILE PHOTO / Veterans Gordon and Laurel Kidd, along with veteran Joe Beauchesne and Debi Rivera hold signs Aug. 19, 2013, at Chaffee Crossing to welcome a state panel charged with deciding where a new veterans home should be located.

An optimistic Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority is again attempting to woo a multimillion-dollar state veterans home to Fort Smith.

The deadline for applications under revamped criteria was 5 p.m. Friday.

“We did turn our application in,” FCRA Executive Director Ivy Owen said Friday. “I think it was about 4:15. We ought to be up in the top one or two. If we’re not, I’ll be shocked.”

The old veterans home in Little Rock was closed last year after failing building and health inspections. The Legislature this year approved $7.5 million to build a new facility and the state has obtained $14 million in federal matching funds.

After more than 40 original submissions were made by interested cities, Fort Smith was one of four finalists until it was announced in September by Cissy Rucker, director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, that three sites did not meet federal requirements. Rucker said she found a number of problems with the criteria used in that selection process. Using a numerical ranking system, the second round of requests for proposals went out in September.

“The application is a lot more objective this time,” Owen said. “So there’s a lot more actual hard data in it this time that can be evaluated.”

“It’s 30 acres with an additional 20 if they need it,” Owen said. “Nothing has ever been there. It’s just a greenfield.”

Owen said he’s unsure if the new round of applications will lead to another site visit. In August, city and FCRA leaders welcomed the now-expired Arkansas Veterans Home Task Force, made presentations and toured Chaffee Crossing land they hoped would one day be chosen for the state home. Owen said the FCRA made “welcome” signs and cleared two sites they wanted the panel to consider.

About a dozen representatives of the 22-member task force toured Chaffee Crossing. They were greeted by residents, some veterans, waving signs shaped like puzzle pieces touting Chaffee Crossing as “the perfect fit” for the veterans home.